By Lauren, Operations Manager (Off-Island)
It has been five months since I’ve seen the South Georgia Museum team so after three flights, one ship and ten days later I arrived on island for my fourth season, excited to see how everyone was doing. In true South Georgia style, the day after my mammoth journey the only appropriate way to meet the rest of the base was at a fancy dress party dressed as a cow. That’s the great thing about life down here is that you can, in fact, meet people for the first time dressed as a cow and everyone welcomes you with open arms.
A huge thank you to Swan Hellenic and their team on board SH Vega who took me in this season. What an incredible experience with amazing guests and crew.
Lauren and Livvie at the fancy dress party
The team saw a total of 15 ships, 1 yacht and hosted one locals day this month, welcoming a total 2824 visitors.
Every season the team host a local’s day to give insight into what a typical ship day looks like to the team across the bay at King Edward Point. Grytviken is where everyone on base walks through to start any hike, so it’s important to provide context on the history of where they live. Will gave the team a whaling station tour to explain what happened here during the whaling era and luckily we had some had some Norwegians in tow from the visiting project ship Meridian so he could double check his pronunciation of place names!
Operations Manager (On-Island) Will giving a talk – Credit: Dr Nate from BAS
February saw a rare week of no ship visits which means it was a perfect time to help our assistant curator Helen with some curatorial work before she left. Helen collected new objects for the museum from Stromness whaling station this season, so the team helped package these away in their new home of the museum stores. Some objects have also been put out on display.
The team rolling up a Union Jack Flag
We were also gifted with some sunny weather during this period. No ships and sunshine only means one thing…maintaining the outdoor objects! This season one of our sealing pots got a spruce with Livvie and Rachel setting to work on brushing away any old flaking paint then giving it a new coat. The outdoor objects see the harsh winters South Georgia can bring so it is important to maintain these objects each season. Excellent work, team!
Livvie painting the pot
Half Marathon Day! Each February the unofficial half marathon takes place on South Georgia. Starting at KEP the participants run, runkle or walk their way through the 13.1 miles. The terrain is mountainous and full of scree so it is no easy feat.The museum team all took part this year with Livvie and Rachel running and Will distributing cookies as a marshal at the halfway point.
I came in halfway through February, so I missed this event, but I’ve asked the museum team for some feedback on the Half Marathon Day:
Can you describe this day in three words?
Livvie: Emotional, long, community
Rachel: Great community spirit
Will: I sat around
Well done to everyone that took part!
Livvie crossing the finish line
A big one for SGHT is that the Stromness Villa project is complete! Check out our newsletter and socials for the details and photos of the amazing work. The team on Meridian passed through Grytviken on their way home and gave a talk to the base about the project, accompanied by apple crumble and date balls made by Nini.
February has been a busy month for us on island and as we head into the last full month on season it doesn’t look like anything is slowing down just yet. Come back next time to hear about the adventures and work we will get up to.